MAKING MONEY: Goodbook 04-23-12

Goodbook messages arrive every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a Scripture reading and ideas for how to apply the reading in our lives. We are reading through the book of Acts. For additional Scripture reading, you can follow the Advanced Track.

Reading: Acts 16:19
(Advanced Track: 2 Sam 22‐23, Ps 57; Ps 95, Ps 97‐99; 2 Sam 24, 1 Chr 21‐22, Ps 30)

¹⁹ When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. ²⁰ They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar ²¹ by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

Application:

Making money is something that we all have to do in order to survive in this world.   It’s important.  But we have to stop every once in a while and consider how important is making money to us?  Is it more important than it should be?

If you’ve been tracking with us in Acts, you know that the apostle Paul has just freed a young woman from an evil spirit.  This was great news for the young woman.  But it wasn’t so good for the men who were holding her as a slave and using her for a profit.  Paul just shot their business in the foot and they were not too happy about that.  They seized Paul and Silas and brought them before the authorities in the marketplace.  I do not know these men, but it seems to me that making money was more important to them than the woman, Paul and Silas, God’s mission, true justice, etc.

This reading leaves me with a lot of questions for myself.  Maybe you will find these questions helpful for your life as well:

Is making money more important to me than people?
Is making money more important to me than what God is up to in the world?
Is making money more important to me than justice issues?
Is making money more important to me than spending time with my family?
Is making money more important to me than giving money to further God’s mission in the world?
Is making money more important to me than fulfilling God’s calling in my life?
Is making money more important to me than seeing my kids live out God’s calling for their lives?

Maybe this reading brings other questions to your mind.  I’d love to hear those.

Again, making money is not bad.  It is an important part of living in this world and providing for the needs of loved ones.  However, our lives can take a very dangerous turn when making money becomes more important than it should be – more important than God, family, mission, generosity, etc.

1) Consider this: How important is making money to you?  Is it more important than it should be?  Do you need to shift some things in your life to put the most important things in their rightful place?

Share your thoughts, questions, and ideas about how to apply this…